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Post by chadders on Oct 11, 2023 15:52:13 GMT
I’m in London on the weekend of the first round so would love at away trip to a ground I’ve not been to before within an hour of central.
I was very frustrated with the way we went out last season after battling hard against Charlton. I think Walsall went on a dismal run after that.
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Oct 11, 2023 16:01:23 GMT
FA Cup 1st Round draw is due soon, think it’s Monday. Do you want to progress with the hope of getting a plum 3rd Round tie, tv cameras et al? Or just keep it low profile and save ourselves for the league? With our injury record it’s tempting to think the latter, but a good run could also benefit our league momentum too. Just don't get injurys and then win the thing Worth suggesting to DC?
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Post by palmersears on Oct 11, 2023 16:04:18 GMT
Selfishly, I’d like a non-league ground I’ve not done before in round one, so I can add another to the collection.
The correct answer though is to get the worst side possible until at least the third round. At that point I become torn between a PL team away (just not City) or a continuation of the worst sides and a jaunt to the fifth round. Either way, we should be putting strong sides out.
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Post by voodooray on Oct 11, 2023 16:05:08 GMT
Can't beat a Cup run.
Make it to the 3rd Rd & get a tasty draw. Turning over Man U at EP.
Alternatively, don't mind less glamorous 'easier' ties if it means going as far as possible.
Ideally, go as far as possible knocking out one or two big guns on the way.
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Post by vicar on Oct 11, 2023 16:07:16 GMT
That Bolton tie a couple of years back was fantastic, it's still a great competition so yes I want to keep getting rubbish teams at home until we get a huge tie.
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Post by 1994hatter on Oct 11, 2023 16:13:24 GMT
I’ve booked a weekend away for my Mum’s birthday in January and realised afterwards it’s the FA Cup 3rd round weekend.
So for me, either two decent away days and fall just short in Round 2, or the easiest of draws up until Round 4 and then a big one.
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Oct 11, 2023 16:39:10 GMT
Always, always try and win with our strongest teams. Sadly we've become one of those clubs who makes multiple changes. Only 4 of the 11 against Swindon last season started the previous league game, was a bit better v Charlton with 7 of the previous games 11 starting and then 8 of the previous 11 v Walsall. There's the obvious comeback of 'we beat Swindon 4-0 so shut up', which is fair. But hopefully we don't just play reserves against whoever we draw this year. We all know the league is the priority, but it doesn't have to be one or the other. But sometimes you have to make a choice. Hopefully this is almost a moot point and our injury situation looks miles better in November. I want us to go for a cup run but with a degree of pragmatism. So not risking anyone who isn't 100% fit. If we got drawn against a proper "minnow" I wouldn't be against wholesale changes if DC was confident our "second team" was good enough (which it should be) and thought it would benefit the squad as the whole - whether resting players or giving others minutes. Maybe I'm trying to have my cake and eat it. I want to challenge on both fronts but if there's a conflict the league comes first.
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Post by suedehead on Oct 11, 2023 17:07:37 GMT
Always, always try and win with our strongest teams. Sadly we've become one of those clubs who makes multiple changes. Only 4 of the 11 against Swindon last season started the previous league game, was a bit better v Charlton with 7 of the previous games 11 starting and then 8 of the previous 11 v Walsall. There's the obvious comeback of 'we beat Swindon 4-0 so shut up', which is fair. But hopefully we don't just play reserves against whoever we draw this year. We all know the league is the priority, but it doesn't have to be one or the other. But sometimes you have to make a choice. Hopefully this is almost a moot point and our injury situation looks miles better in November. I want us to go for a cup run but with a degree of pragmatism. So not risking anyone who isn't 100% fit. If we got drawn against a proper "minnow" I wouldn't be against wholesale changes if DC was confident our "second team" was good enough (which it should be) and thought it would benefit the squad as the whole - whether resting players or giving others minutes. Maybe I'm trying to have my cake and eat it. I want to challenge on both fronts but if there's a conflict the league comes first. Do we ever have players in November, December, January etc who are 100% fit? What does that even mean? I doubt many players are 100% mid way through a season. If they’re able and capable they should be playing. If we draw the Dog and Duck at home then our second string should be good enough, agreed. But what I don’t want to see is a repeat of the Leicester game last season in the Carabao when we made big changes.
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Post by Barmy Blue Army on Oct 11, 2023 17:18:12 GMT
But sometimes you have to make a choice. Hopefully this is almost a moot point and our injury situation looks miles better in November. I want us to go for a cup run but with a degree of pragmatism. So not risking anyone who isn't 100% fit. If we got drawn against a proper "minnow" I wouldn't be against wholesale changes if DC was confident our "second team" was good enough (which it should be) and thought it would benefit the squad as the whole - whether resting players or giving others minutes. Maybe I'm trying to have my cake and eat it. I want to challenge on both fronts but if there's a conflict the league comes first. Do we ever have players in November, December, January etc who are 100% fit? What does that even mean? I doubt many players are 100% mid way through a season. If they’re able and capable they should be playing. If we draw the Dog and Duck at home then our second string should be good enough, agreed. But what I don’t want to see is a repeat of the Leicester game last season in the Carabao when we made big changes. Fair point. I guess it's injury risk which can be estimated by the medical team but not precisely. So I wouldn't risk someone with a knock like we might do in a league game in the run in. I want us to take it seriously but wouldn't be miffed and if DC made something like 4 changes vs a fellow L2 team saying we're trying to manage their minutes. But definitely nothing like the League Cup or Trophy. If we had a week to recover after a game, I'd be expecting us to play our available strongest team.
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Post by Philcounty on Oct 11, 2023 17:26:37 GMT
Promotion from L2 is the only objective. If we can have a good FA Cup run along the way then great, if not then it's one less opportunity for us to pick up injuries.
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Post by Stranded Hatter on Oct 11, 2023 17:27:58 GMT
Love a cup run me. Since we cocked up the Carabao we need to make sure we don't do so in the FA Cup.
Of course if it was a one or the other situation then I would choose promotion this season, but it isn't so let's do both
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Post by Imposter on Oct 11, 2023 17:49:47 GMT
Reading away please.
Dull as dishwater but I've never been (not sure we've ever played at the Madejski).
They're sh*t.
And it looks like we may well swap divisions next season.
So get it ticked off whilst I have the chance.
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Post by suedehead on Oct 11, 2023 17:50:34 GMT
Promotion from L2 is the only objective. If we can have a good FA Cup run along the way then great, if not then it's one less opportunity for us to pick up injuries. Is it? I don’t doubt it’s a key objective but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re targeting reaching a specific round in the FA Cup too. We’re obsessed as a fan base about avoiding injuries in cup games, it was the same with the Trophy run in 18/19. We dicked Harrogate and Maidstone from the league above. I’m not having that didn’t do wonders for confidence and belief we could get promoted/get to the Trophy final. How many significant injuries have we picked up in cup games over the years?
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Post by suedehead on Oct 11, 2023 17:52:24 GMT
Whoever we get, I hope it’s the Friday or Sunday anyway.
It’s Mrs sue’s 40th on the Saturday. I get a very free reign to go to 98% of games over a season, not sure I’ll get away with an FA Cup 1st round game on her birthday.
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Post by Stranded Hatter on Oct 11, 2023 18:22:39 GMT
Whoever we get, I hope it’s the Friday or Sunday anyway. It’s Mrs sue’s 40th on the Saturday. I get a very free reign to go to 98% of games over a season, not sure I’ll get away with an FA Cup 1st round game on her birthday. Mrs sue and I share a birthday then. I know a ridiculous amount of people with the same: my sister in law, my great aunt, my cousin's daughter, my year 3 teacher, a friend in my year at school, a friend the year below me at school, and more. What is it about November 4th?
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